Cascade Range Volcanoes
Newspaper Clippings

Please Note:
This list is by no means complete, and is simply
a collection of clippings found from the 1800s to early 1900s with references to volcanic eruptions, ascents, or descriptions of the Cascade Range volcanoes. Please keep in mind these "reports" of eruptions may not, infact, be eruptions at all, but may be a forest fire, avalanches, imaginations, or other such phenomena.
They are currently arranged by volcano and/or area, and then chronologically, with the earliest clippings for each volcano an/or area at the top.
[Back to Historical Timeline]

July 2, 1850 ... referring to March 21
Mount Baker and Mount St. Helens, Washington
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, N.Y., taken from article in the Oregon Spectator

OREGON VOLCANOES. --
The Oregon Spectator of March 21, states on authority of gentlemen who were eye witnesses to the fact, that both the mounts, St. Helen and Baker, were sending forth volumes of smoke, giving undoubted evidence that their volcanic fires are not yet extinguished.

ANOTHER VOLCANO. --
Our readers are generally aware that a volcano exists on the coast between Monterey and San Diego, which is active most of the time. But it is a fact not so generally known, that another exists among the Sierra Nevada. It lies far to the north among the sources of Feather River. On the fifth of January, 1851, it was actively belching forth lava and smoke. Last summer the stream of lava had not cooled. A German, in walking over the crust, broke throught, and came near being burnt to death. Had it not been for his companions, who dragged him out, he would without doubt have lost his life. His boots were burned to a crisp. -- [Times & Transcript].

September 3, 1853 ... describing ascent of August 26First Ascent, Mount St. Helens, Washington
which appeared in The Oregonian and The Columbian

The Summit of Mount St. Helens. ... The next morning at break of day, Messrs. Wilson, Smith, Drew and ourself, took three days' rations, together with such things as were deemed necessary to aid us in the ascent, and left camp for the summit, distant about four miles in an air line. We found the route a continual steep ascent, with the exception of an occasional descent over a precipitant ledge of rocks. About two miles from our camp we descended a high ledge to the bed of a small stream, which we followed until we struck the lava at the foot of the bare mountain -- where vegetation ceases to make its appearance. The portion of this stream which we traveled has a fall of at least one thousand feet to the mile, and a much greater one higher up.
-- CONTINUE --

September 26, 1854 ... covering events to August 19
Mount Hood, Oregon
New York Times, September 26, 1854, as taken from the San Francisco Herald, covering events to August 19, 1854.

OREGON.
MOUNT HOOD A VOLCANO. -- A party just returned from Mount Hood (Judge OLNEY among the number) report it a volcano, although it has not been in an active state probably for a long period. Smoke, however, is issuing at the present times.

-- Newspaper Source found at:
The New York Times Archives, 2008

October 18, 1854
Mount Hood, Oregon
New York Times, New York

A party consisting of the editor of the Oregonian and several gentlemen from this place and Portland, last week returned from an excursion for pleasure and exploration to Mount Hood. They ascended the highest range and to the top of the highest peak but one. They found cold weather, ice and snow, a plenty of volcanic rocks, and of course the "goodliest prospect." They started with instruments for measuring the height, but were obliged to leave them before mounting the highest peak. By some observations they made, however, and from some imperfect data, I am told they estimate the height to be about 16,000 feet.

A LOFTY MOUNTAIN. --
Mount Hood, in Oregon has now been ascertained, by actual measurement, to be a full 18,361 feet high. This is the highest peak on the American continent and one of the highest in the world. From this peak, mountain tops five hundred miles distant are distinctly seen. The mountain is volcanic, smoke having been seen to issue from the summit several times.

We learn from Mr. SAMUEL CROCKETT, of Island county, who visited this place last week, that the Indians on the Island and vicinity, remain quiet and are busily engaged in putting in their potatoe crop. He also informs us, that a volcanic eruption appears recently to have taken place in Mt. Baker -- that a dense smoke had, for several weeks, completely shrouded the summit of the mountain.

April 17, 1857Mount St. Helens, WashingtonWashington Republican (Steilacoom), in article by Frank Balch

Mount St. Helens,
or some other mount to the southward, is seen from the Nisqually plains in this county, to be in a state of eruption. It has for the last few days been emitting volumes of dense smoke and fire, presenting a grand and sublime spectacle.

Eruption of Mt. Hood --
On Wednesday last, the atmosphere suddenly became exceeding hot about midday. In the afternoon the heavens presented a singular appearance, dark, silvery, condensed clouds hung over the top of Mt. Hood. The next day several persons watching the appearance of Mt. Hood until evening. An occasional flash of fire could be distinctly seen rolling up. On thursday night, the fire was plainly seen by everyone whose attention could be drawn to the subject. Yesterday, the mountain was closely examined by those who have recently returned from a visit to the summit, when, by the naked eye or a glass, it was seen that a large mass of the northwest side had disappeared, and that the quantity of snow which, two weeks since, covered the south side, had also disappeared. The dense clouds of steam and smoke constantly rising over and far above tis summit, together with the entire change in its appearance heretofore, convinces us that Mt. Hood is now in a state of eruption, which has broken out within a few days. The curious will examine it and see for themselves.

An eruption of Mt. Hood was witnessed by the aid of glasses from Portland on Friday last. Immense clouds of ashes filled the air, through which, at times, flashes of fire were perceptible. Terrible land slides were also frequently seen, and with the snow which has been melted away from the side on which the eruption took place, the appearance of its summit is entirely changed.

ERUPTION. --
M.J.A. TENNANT informs us that Mt. Baker, situated near the northern boundary, was seen in an active state of eruption lately, by citizens resident at Semiahmoo, as also by vessels in those localities of the Sound from which the mountain is preceptible. Two large and bright jects of flame were seen, having the appearance as if issuing from separate fissures or openings. It was seen but a few days, and not accompaned by that quantity of dark smoke usually attendant upon occurrences of this kind. Eruptions of this mountains, we are told, are very unusual.

VOLCANOES OF THE NORTHWEST. --
The following interesting article is from the Des Moines (Iowa) Commonwealth:
"Mount Baker and Mount St. Helens, in Washington territory, are active volcanoes; the former smokes considerably, and occasionally shows a red light at night. St. Helens smokes a very little, the smoke in the day-time resembling a thin column of white steam. There has been no eruption of St. Helens since 1842, at which time it covered the country with ashes to the Dalles, distant one hundred miles. Great streams of hardened lava are found in various places in Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams, and probably near the other sister volcanic peaks. Mount St. Helens and Mount Baker are the only active volcanoes on the American soil, unless Mount Shasta (which sometimes smokes a little, but not enough for the smoke to be seen from the foot of the mountain) be added to them. Mounts Hood, Rainer, Jefferson and Adams were undoubtedly volcanoes once, but they are now extinct. In a paper contributed by George Gibbs to the documents relating to the survey for a northern Pacific railroad, he says the Indians have a characteristic tale relating to Mounts Hood and St. Helens, that they were formerly man and wife, but they quarreled, and threw fire at each other, and that St. Helens was the victor, since when Mount Hood has been afraid, while Mount Helens, having a stout heart, still burns. There was still a further tradition among the Indians, when the writer was in Oregon, that Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens, were connected by a continuous ridge or chain, and that the Columbia river, which runs between them, had a subterranean passage at the point known as the 'Cascades.' The Columbia then had a smooth, even course, under an immense arch of the mountain, but that unfortunate matrimonial difficulty above referred to did not end in throwing fire; they also broke down the conjugal arch, which fell with a thundering crash into the river, and formed the 'Cascades.' The 'Cascades' are from one to two miles in length, and have a fall of about twenty feet per mile. Their appearance would indicate that there might be some truth in the tradition, and that it occurred at no very distant period -- perhaps within the last century. The opinion is sustained by the geological formation above the 'Cascades,' where the river spreads out and becomes a lake, some twenty miles in length and several in breadth. The bottom of the lake in many places is covered with a heavy growth of timber standing upright, in the exact condition it grew, no doubt, and reaching to the top of the water, say from 20 to 30 feet. The tops of the trees have long since disappeared, making the surface of the lake, at low water, look like a clearing full of stumps. On examination, the wood was found to be quite sound below the water. An answer to the question, how long has the forest been submerged ? might also fix the period when these volcanoes became extinct."

-- Newspaper Source found at:
U.S. Library of Congress Website, American Memories, 2007

MOUNT BAKER. --
This volcano is now in active operation, throwing off clouds of smoke and steam. To-day the atmosphere being clear, our citizens had a magnificent view of the snow clad giant from whose summit ascended a column of smoke which, by aid of a telescope, presents the appearance of a steamboat blowing off her surplus steam. The vapor rose perpendicularly, high above the loftiest peak, and was more distinctly visible than we ever have seen it before. -- Port Townsend Register, Dec. 26..

A Sulphurous Volcano. --
We c'ip the following from the Los Angelos Star, of August 24th:
Joel H. Brooks arrived yesterday from Coso and vicinity. He gave us a specimen of pure brimstone, which he picked up on the desert, having discovered an active volcano, pouring forth a stream of sulphur. This is rather a curiosity in the way of volcanoes. There is no distinct crater, though almost an infinite number of pipes, probably ten thousand. -- Hot steam and sulphur are discharged, the latter of which congealing, forms the pure brimstone of commerce. Alum is also found pure and in great abundance. It appears as the sulphur congeals, it throws out a coating of alum, the brimstone forming around the flues. These sulphur springs cover about two acres of ground. They are situated on the side of a volcanic hill, about three hundred feet above the level of the plains -- twenty miles south of Coso, and fifteen miles northeast of Little Owen's Lake. These springs have been claimed by the discoverers, Brooks and Hart, for the purpose of trade. By fastening a yeast powder box to a willow pole, they dipped up the boiling sulphur. The steam issuing from the pipes is so hot as to immediately blister the hand in coming in contact with it. The ground is generally so soft and hot, that planks have to be used in crossing it. Surely, the hot place we read about is not far from that volcano.

Mount Baker in Eruption. --
YREKA, August 13. --
...
Dates from Portland, to the 10th, have been received. Thanksgiving was generally observed in Oregon. Large stories still come down from the mines. New diggings are being found daily. Mount Baker is in a state of eruption.
...

HIGHEST MOUNTAINS IN THE UNITED STATES. --
Professor J.D. Whitney, the Superintendent of the california Geological Survey, in an article in the "Proceedings of the California Academy," announces his conslusion that Mt. Shasta, 14,400 feet high, probably overtops all other peaks within the limits of the United States. Mount Hood, sometimes called the loftiest peak of the Cascade Range, is probably not so high as Mounts Shasta, Rainier, or Adams, and by no means entitled to the supremacy of the chain, although one of the highest points in it. Trigonometrical measurements of Mount Hood, in 1860, gave its hight as 11,834 feet. Mount St. Elias, in the Russian Possessions has generally been considered the highest mountain in North America, on the authority of Malespina's manuscripts, discovered by Humboldt in the archives of Mexico, which assigned to it an elevation of 17,845 feet. Mr. Whitney, however, thinks this estimate erroneous, and the estimate given on the British Hydrographical charts of captain Denham, of 14,070, more nearly correct, Mount Brown and Mount Hooker in British Columbia have assigned to them a hight of 16,000 and 16,750 feet respectively. But the highest mountain on the North American continent is, beyond all doubth the Mexican volcano of Popocatapel, which rises to the well ascertained hight of 17,783 feet.

THE CRATER OF MOUNT BAKER COLLAPSING. --
Says the British Colonist:
In our notice of the recent earthquake, we alluded to the fact of the summit of the volcano having undergone considerable change of late years, occasioned, as most suppose, from a large portion of the mountain having descended into the crater. The North Pacific Times of Wednesday says: "Capt. Irving informs us that the top of Mount Baker, probably upwards of a mile in width, has entirely collapsed within the past week. On his last trip a change was perceptible in the appearance of the mountain, but the atmosphere was at that time too thick to render accurate observation possible. In coming down the river yesterday, however, the weather being fine and clear, the extent of the alteration was plainly visible. It would be difficult to estimate the enormous mass of matter thus displaced, but if measured by tons it mus amount to thousands of millions. How far, or if any way, this fall was connected with the recent earthquake, are questions we gladly leave to scientific men to discuss." According to the Columbian, about 1,000 feet of the main peak have thus disappeared, leaving a large flat surface on the top.

MOUNT BAKER. --
The Portland Oregonian says:
"It is said that Mount Baker, a lofty peak away to the northward, is rapidly sinking in. It is asserted that the mountain has fallen one thousand or fifteen hundred feet, and that its summit, which was formerly a sharp point, is now much flattened. This peak has been for some time in a state of active eruption. Dense clouds of smoke have of late been seen to issue from it."

-- Newspaper Source found at:
Utah Digital Newspapers Archives, 2007

September 2, 1865Crater Lake, OregonSeattle Weekly Gazette

OREGON'S GREAT CURIOSITY. --
Several of our citizens returned last week from the Great Sunken Lake, situated in the Cascade Mountains, about seventy-five miles northeast from Jacksonville. This lake rivals the famous valley of Sinbad the Sailor. It is thought to average 2,000 feet down to the water all round. The walls are almost perpendicular, running down into the water and leaving no beach. The depth of the water is unknown, and its surface is smooth and unruffled, as it lies so far below the surface that air currents do not affect it. Its length is estimated at twelve miles, and its width at ten. There is an island in its centre, having trees upon it. No living man has, and perhaps never will, be able to reach the water's edge. It lies silent, still and mysterious in the bosom of the "everlasting hills," like a huge well scooped out by the hands of the gentle genii of the mountains, in the unknown ages gone by, and around it the primeval forests watch and ward are keeping.

The visiting party fired a rifle several times into the water, at an angle of forty-five degrees, and were able to note several seconds of time from the report of the gun untill the ball struck the water. Such seems incredible, but is vouched for by some of our most reliable citizens. The lake is certainly a most remarkable curiosity. -- Jacksonville Sentinel.

October 14, 1865 ... referring to September 23 - October 11
Mount Hood, Oregon
New York Times, New York

THE PACIFIC COAST. Mount Hood, in a State of Irruption --
SAN FRANCISCO, Wednesday, Oct. 11.
Mount Hood, Oregon, has been in a state of eruption since Sept. 23, which it is supposed had some connection with the recent earthquake in California, although the central part of this State only felt the shock.

-- Newspaper Source found at:
The New York Times Archives, 2008

October 26, 1865Mount Hood, OregonDeseret News, Utah

A CORRESPONDENT of the Oregonian, writing from Fort Vancouver, says that on the morning of September 21st he saw the tops of Mount Hood enveloped in smoke and flame. Jets of flame shot upwards seemingly a distance of 15 or 20 feet above the mountain's height, accompanied by discharges of what appeared to be fragments of rock, cast up a considerable distance, which he could perceive fell immediately after with a rumbling noise not unlike distant thunder. This phenomenon was witnessed by several soldiers on guard.

Monday, April 30.
A NEW VOLCANO. --
Within the past month, smoke has been seen to issue from a mountain, whose top is barely above the snow line, in the Cascade range of mountains, between one and two hundred miles southerly, along the range from Mt. Baker, and not more than fifty miles from Port Townsend, in a north-easterly direction, and about seventy-five miles from Seattle. The smoke from this baby volcano, sometimes issues forth in puffs as from a high pressure engine, and at other times, especially on calm days, it ascends in a spiral column high in the air. To persons, fond of adventures, a fine opportunity is presented for an exploring expedition.

PROFESSOR A. Wood, with a party of gentlemen, lately ascended Mount Hood, in Oregon, and reports the fact that Mount Hood is really a volcano, and that it is the highest mountain in the United States, being 17,500 feet.

Dalles, Nov. 26, 1866.
Earthquake at the Dalles. --
At ten minutes past ten, on Saturday morning last, our city was visited by an earthquake, which lasted about half a minute. The shock was felt throughout the town, but luckily no damage was done. Some of our citizens were terribly frightened, a great many running out to the street. At Celio the shock was heavier and of a good deal longer duration. Considerable speculations are rife as to its origin, this being the first ever experienced at the Dalles. Some of the knowing ones declare that the city of San Francisco has met with a terrible fate; others less timid, attribute the shock to the eruption of Mount Hood, which, beyond doubt, will prove to be the case, as the old mountain has been puffing and smoking for over two days. ...

Mount Hood has recently been smoking and giving out other manifestations that it is a volcano. The Portland Oregonian says that on the 16th instant clouds of smoke hung around the base of the mountain, while a column seemed to rise from its summit.

December 25, 1866 ... referring to December 12, 1866 ... (December 22)
Mount Hood, Oregon
New York Times, New York

THE PACIFIC COAST. Mount Hood in a State of Eruption.
SAN FRANCISCO, Saturday, Dec. 22.
Mount Hood was plainly seen from Salem, on Dec. 12, sounding forth volumes of vapor and smoke, which puffed upwards like discharges of steam from an exhaust pipe.

MOUNT BAKER. -- A correspondent sends the following to the Olympia (W.T.) Tribune, under date of March 26th:
It may not be generally known to the readers of your paper that Mount Baker is in active eruption at this time; but such is the fact! During the past twelve or fifteen days, since the clear, cold northerly winds have been prevailing, dense volumes of smoke have been seen by me, and others, to issue from the southern peak, near the summit of the mountain. The Indians have a tradition that about thirty [?] years ago, as near as they can compute the time, Mount Baker was an active, burning volcano. They could see the fire plainly, on dark nights; but that about that time a tremendous convulsion took place, changing the whole aspect of the mountain, and killing most all the salmon in Skagit river; snce which time there has been but little seen to indicate a burning crater until this present Winter.

NOTE:Excerpt from:Scientific American, June 1, 1867:
MOUNT BAKER, Or. is in active eruption from its southern peak, near the summit. The Indians say that this mountain about thirty years ago, as nearly as they can compute, was a volcano.
-- Source found at:
U.S. Library of Congress Website, American Memories, 2007

October 1, 1867presumably Mount Baker, WashingtonThe New York Times, New York

There is great excitement at Victoria over the supposed volcanic eruption, sixty-five miles distant, in the Cascade Range.

A correspondent from Independence, Inyo county, Cal., states that a large column of dense smoke was observed rising form the mountains in the direction of Walker's Pass, and that frequent shocks of earthquake were felt, accompanied by a loud noise like thunder, indicating that there was a volcano in that vicinity.

CURIOUS PHENOMENON. --
We take the following from the S.F. Times.
It is curious:
"Mr. A.N. Bell, of Independence; Inyou county, writing under date of September 21st, to his brother, Mr. James Bell, of Sonora, gives the following account of a remarkable phenomenon. Hew says:

"There is quite a phenomenon down on the Sierra Nevadas at the had of Kern river. The earth has been shaking for more than two weeks -- almost a constant shake. It shakes the rocks down the mountain and makes the earth wave like the sea. It has not been felt here. I suppose it is a volcano getting ready to burst out. The mountain opens like a hinge, hence it is not felt at a great distance off. The atmosphere has been very thick here for a week, and reminds me of the description given by Bulwer of the scene of darkness that covered Pompeii before its destruction. Such a thing might occur here."

A Volcano on the Pacific Coast.
SAN FRANCISCO, March 9. --
Mount Rainier, in Washington Territory, appears to be firing up for a volcanic eruption. The heat at the summit has become so great as to melt the snow. Heretofore during the hottest Summer weather the melting of the snow was but partial. There is a constant emission of steam, and some persons living in the vicinity report smoke, from the mountain.

Mount Hood, Oregon, is throwing out a dense column of smoke, indicative of active volcanic action.

-- Newspaper Source found at:
The New York Times Archives, 2008

September 14, 1873Mount Hood "Illuminated" The New York Times, New York

Perry A. Vickers is reputed to have climbed to the top of Mount Hood, Oregon, on the 16th of August, encumbered with blankets, a telescope, thermometer, provisions, fuel, &c., to over sixty pounds in weight, and to have remained on the summit all night, giving at appointed hours ten lights by means of magnesian wire, which were distinctly seen by friends below. He proposes to illuminate the top on the 4th of July next, and wished to test its feasibility.

-- Newspaper Source found at:
The New York Times Archives, 2008

June 9, 1879 ... (May 26)Mount Hood, OregonThe New York Times.

MOUNT HOOD. Reported Reappearance of Smoke at its Summit.From the Portland (Oregon) Bee, May 26.

At 9 o'clock yesterday morning any person observing Mount Hood could have noticed with the naked eye a changing cloud of smoke that hung upon the south side of the mountain, far above the snowline, and climbing almost to the summit. Observing this carefully with a glass, it was plainly to be seen that the smoke changed its form and movement constantly, apparently pouring out of the south side of the mountain from half to one-quarter of a mile below the summit. Those who have ascended the mountain locate the site of an old crater on the south-west side, some distance below the summit. They have to cross this locality to make the ascent, and always, find sulphurous fumes issuing from the crevices, and the rocks heated by internal fires.

There is no doubt that Mount Hood at times sends forth eruptions of smoke, though such manifestations are not of frequent occurrence, or at least are not often reported. We have lived within view of the mountain for nearly 30 years, and have only once before, about 15 years ago, seen unmistakable emission of smoke, which lasted about an hour, and came from the same part of the mountain that we observed it yesterday, and each time the fact of its being smoke was not to be doubted. Fifteen years ago the phenomenon occurred upon a Winter day, when the sky was blue, without a speck of cloud to fleck it, and the smoke streamed northward from the mountain in a dense black cloud. We have seen the time when excitement was created some years ago by the rumor that Mount Hood was smoking. A crowd gathered on a high roof and observed it with glasses, but the phenomenon was caused by atmospheric conditions that drew the mists and fogs from the lower gorges, and made them wreath around the summit. The difference between this light-colored, enveloping mist, rising from the base of the mountain, and the black, sulphurous appearance of smoke pouring directly out of the side of it from among the snows, was evident to any practical eye. Yesterday morning the sky was clear, with a slight haze and a few light, fleecy clouds hanging above the Cascade range at intervals, but the whole base and summit of Mount Hood were clear of them, while the unmistakable wreath of sulphur smoke hung just below the very summit, remaining there for over two hours, contorted by the movement of the winds. Toward noon fleecy coulds enveloped the mountain, and for a while the difference between cloud and smoke was distinctly visible, but afterward the outlines of the snowy peak were obscured, and when they were plain again, at 2 o'clock P.M., there was no smoke to be seen.

-- Newspaper Source found at:
The New York Times Archives, 2008

September 15, 1880Near Mount BakerOgden Standard Examiner, Utah

A mountain has been observed in a state of violent eruption, opposite Mount Baker.

-- Newspaper Source found at:
Utah Digital Newspapers Archives, 2007

December 14, 1880 ... (December 13)Mount Baker, Washington
The New York Times, December 14, 1880.

MOUNT BAKER IN ERUPTION.
SAN FRANCISCO, Cal., Dec.13. -- A dispatch from Seattle, Washington Territory, reports that Mount Baker has been in eruption, and that a sharp shock of earthquake was felt last evening.

-- Newspaper Source found at:
The New York Times Archives, 2008

January 25, 1881 ... (January 24)Mount Baker, Washington
The New York Times, January 25, 1881.

MOUNT BAKER IN ERUPTION.
VICTORIA, British Columbia, Jan.24. -- It is reported that Mount Baker is in a state of active eruption, and is throwing out clouds of smoke and ashes. The phenomenon is not visible from here.

-- Newspaper Source found at:
The New York Times Archives, 2008

February 1, 1881 ... (January 31)Mount Baker, Washington
The New York Times, February 1, 1881.

THE ERUPTION OF MOUNT BAKER.
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 31. -- A Victoria dispatch says that the eruption of Mount Baker is increasing in violence.

-- Newspaper Source found at:
The New York Times Archives, 2008

March 20, 1881Mount Baker, Washington
Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, N.Y., taken from the San Francisco Dispatch to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat

A SPLENDID SPECTACLE.
[San Francisco Dispatch to the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.]
Advices from Matisqui, Oregon, near the foot of Mount Baker, state that the mountain is in an active state of eruption, and the people of that section fear that lava will flow in large quantities. A dense volume of smoke is issuing from the mountain, while hot cinders, ashes and lava are being thrown from the crater. At night streams of fire pour forth, and the spectacle is said to be magnificent from the Upper Sierras, fifty miles away. Mount Baker is 12,000 feet high and is snow clad half way down its sides.

Rainier gave every appearance of being in a state of eruption yesterday. Immense volumes of white vapor rolled up form near the northern peak, all day long, part of the time rising almost perpendicular, and drifing to the north or south as the winds happened to blow. No flames were visible, and it may hav been fog, but his we doubt. -- Courier.

The Summit of Mt. Hood. --
Rev. F. M. Robertson, who recently accompanied a pleasure party to the heights of Mount Hood, estimates by the aid of barometers, the elevation of the summit to be about 12,200 feet above sea level. Mount Hood, like Mount Tacoma, is a glacial formation, and its streams are described as similar to those emerging from our greater mountain: Here is discovered the head of the Sandy river gliding out of an immense snow drift, and in a moment plunging over a cliff a hundred feet high. It is remarkable how different the mountain appears when close at hand as seen from different standpoints. To know the beauty and grandure as well as the variety of this great mountain, it should be studied from every point of the compass. Now returning to the eastward a few steps a new discovery is made. The glacier scooping deep into the middle of the mountain has lifted a million tons of sand, gravel and rock, and borne them half way down the mountain side. And now the water which is ever flowing beneath these glaciers is slowly completing the work of its fellow-toiler, the glacier. At a distance the earth looks like the fresh embankment of a railroad, but approaching it you will find that "Pat" and "John Chinaman" have never been there, but the swift rivulets of rushing water are surely accomplishing the mighty task, and the result will be one of those long ridges which sweep away for miles toward the base of the mountain.

On the western slope of the mountain the glacier is engaged in a titanic task. Here are tremendous cracks, chasms and crevices of every form and in all directions. Ice bridge after ice bridge was crossed, until it was unsafe to go farther. In one place a mighty cube of ice, an acre in extent perhaps, had been heaved from its bed and stood partly on edge. The force required to lift such a weight is appalling. Far down through the deep fissures of hard green ice could be heard the rush of waters. While I stood and wondered, again and again I heard a croaking sound beneath. It was the slow but irresistible motion of the mightly ice field down the mountain side, heaving these millions of tons of ice and snow into a thousand fantastic forms, while crevice and cave, grotto and roaring stream are all around. Six gentlemen and four ladies constitute the scaling party, which is doubtless the largest number which ever stood at one time upon the lofty summit of Mount Hood. The view is described as sublime. Over the valleys hangs a thick veil of smoke; but the crests of the Cascade range rise above the mantle of smoke, like billows above a calm sea. Further to the northward tower the snow clad summits of Mount Adams, St. Helens, and Tacoma; the latter over a hundred miles away. To the southward rise Mount Washington, Jefferson, the Three Sisters, and the far away hights of southern Oregon; all snow-clad and gleaming in the summer sun, and seeming to float like great rocks in mid-heaven. The party spent over two hours on the summit, in an atmosphere at a temperature of 60 degrees, eating dinner and finding nice snow water for drinking purposes. They found boxes, bottles, flags, books, etc., left by former visitors; and after fully satisfying their curiosity the descent began. On the way down they stopped at Crater rock to explore Pluto's cavern, an immense cave on the north side of the rock just mentioned. The cave is caused by the volcanic heat of the mountain, and is 100 feet deep, 200 feet long, and rises in a dome 100 feet high. The vast roof is arched over by immense rafters of ice in the form of five-sided crystals, three feet in diameter.

The cavern is full of wonders. Sulphur, which is supposed to be one of the chief commodities of his satanic majesty, abounds in every form. Hot gasses and steam issue from cracks and crevices in the rocks. The place is not without its perils. Pluto, resenting the invasion of his dominions by daring mortals, hurled one stone, which struck the dean of the woman's college on the head, inflicting a slight wound, but not of a serious nature.

April 10, 1886 ... (March 29)Mount Hood, Oregon, and Mount St. Helens, WashingtonThe New York Times, New York

MOUNTS HOOD AND ST. HELENS.
WHAT MAY BE SMOKE AND MAY BE ONLY VAPOR.From the Portland Oregonian, March 29.
We have little doubt that the "smoke" which rose from Mount Hood on Saturday was a consequence of evaporation caused by unusual conditions. It bore precisely the appearance of a "vapor cloud," while the fact of its being unusual ought not to occasion great wonder in a country where the unusual thing is, if we may be allowed to juggle with words, a thing quite usual. That there was no repetition of the phenomenon yesterday is a circumstance favorable to the theory that it was external, for if it had been a genuine volcanic discharge it is much more than likely that the period of activity would have extended over more than a few hours. There are many, however, who believe that the cloud was either smoke or steam in fact, and that it came from the depths of the mountain. It is a well known fact that there is a large crater near the summit on the western slope, a remnant, doubtless, of that "hole in the ground" of which we have heard. Many who have climbed the mountain report that sulphurous gases issue constantly from this crater, poisoning the air to a degree which often makes respiration painful and difficult.

While we do not believe that the cloud seen on Saturday was really smoke, still it may be supposed very reasonably that it was such. Mr. S. A. Clark, the well known writer of pioneer records, said in a recent article that twice during a third of a century he has seen dense black smoke pour forth from the crater, and Prof. Powell, formerly State Superintendent of Public Instruction, reports that at the time of his visit, some years back, the crater was discharging sulphurous heat. It is well known that Mount St. Helens, the comparatively near neighbor of Hood, is a volcano more or less disposed to activity. It was climbed in 1875 by the Hon. T.A. McBride and others, who found a crater from which a light steam with hot and sulphurous gases constantly issued.

... (see clipping for rest of article, about 1842 Mount St. Helens eruption)

-- Newspaper Source found at:
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July 6, 1887 ... (July 5)Mount Hood "Illuminated" The New York Times, New York

MOUNT HOOD ILLUMINATED.
AN OREGON CITY'S CELEBRATION OF THE FOURTH.
PORTLAND, Oregon, July 5., -- For the Fourth of July celebration yesterday Portland undertook and successfully carried out an unprecedented feat in the way of fireworks. It was the illumination of the summit of Mount Hood, the tallest snow-covered peak in Oregon, 12,720 feet high. This was done at exactly 11:30 last night, and the light was plainly seen in this city, a distance of 51 miles in a straight line. The illuminating agent was 100 pounds of red fire. The tast was accomplished by William G. Steel, a local explorer of some note, assisted by Nelson W. Durham, of the staff of the Oregonian, and five others. The party left here Friday morning last and camped Saturday night at the snow line. From there to the summit the journey was made on foot over soft snow in some places and hard ice in others, where steps had to be cut with hatchets and two dangerous crevasses crossed. Besides, five of the party had to carry 20 pounds of red fire each in addition to their blankets. The arrangement when the party left here was for two of the party to remain on the summit all night in order to touch off the fire. This, of course, they must have done, and it is the first time that a human being has spent a night on the summit of the mountain. The illumination was also seen in Eastern Oregon at a distance of 75 miles. The party will begin the descent of the mountain this morning.

MOUNT RAINIER ON A TEAR.
Earthquake Shocks and Eruptions.
SMOKE RISING FROM CRATER.
Tacoma Shaken Up in Brisk Fashion -- Peak Changes Its Shape, Showing the Violence of the Action -- Seattle Observes the Phenomenon -- History of the Volcano -- Many Earthquakes This Year.

Seattle, Wash., Nov.21. -- Mount Rainier is in a state of mild eruption. The appearance of the summit is entirely chaned, and a new peak has appeared in tis center. Soon after sunrise this moring, the sky and air being remarkably clear, clouds of black smoke were seen curling from the southwestern part of the peak, where the crater is located, coming at intervals of about fifteen seconds.

The dome-like top had disappeared and been replaced by a flat top with a large crevasse extending down the side, while in the center of its summit a new peak had appeared on the northern side. The snow was all gone from the summit as though melted off. Falling masses of rock, stripped of their white covering, could be plainly discerned. Steam is also seen mingling with the smoke, which rises 100 feet above the summit.

Mount Rainier is a cone shaped peak and stands slightly to the west of the main Cascade range, sixty-five miles souteast of Seattle. It rises fully 9,000 feet above the range. It has three craters, of which the principal and most perfect is the scene of the present volcanic disturbances. This crater is half a mile across with walls of rock fifty feet high, and thousands of jets of hot air and steam issue from this rim. The inside of the crater is filled with snow and ice, in which the smouldering volcano and steam jets have formed innumerable caves, one of which ahs been penetrated by explorers to a depth of 100 feet, while they have used the steam jets for cooking.

It is supposed that the walls of the crater, having been gradually wekened at the base, have fallen, leaving a peak composed of the rock on which the snowy cone named Columbian Crest had formed, and that the internal fies thus freed have burst forth in new vigor. The eruption became hidden by clouds soon after 8 a.m.

EARTHQUAKE AT TACOMA.

Tonight exactly at 6:30 o'clock, several slight shocks of earthquake were felt here. Windows were rattled throughout the city. The first shock was most severe, being accompanied by rumbling noises, as of a distant explosion, and simultaneously a sheet of flame was observed in the eastern heavens.

Inquiry tonight develops the fact that several persons here saw the smoke arising from Mount Tacoma, or Rainier, this morning. Mrs. Lovell, an Iowa lady visiting friends, says she saw at 8 o'clock, just before sunrise, a good sized column of smoke rising from the mountain top. Professor F.O. Plummer, a local scientist, who has made a special study of earthquake phenomena in the northwest says:

"Old Hialon, the oldest Indian on the Puyallup reservation, said, through an interpreter, before the Tacoma Academy of Science, on February 6, 1893, that he had many times seen fire and smoke coming out of Mount Tacoma. This was when he was a boy. General John O. Fremont reported on November 13, 1848, that Mount Tacoma was in eruption. According to Mr. Holden of the Lick Observatory, a violent eruption of the mountain occurred October 17, 1873 at 4 p.m. In May, 1880, volumes of smoke were observed issuing from the crater. On June 17, 1884, jets of steam were observed shooting upward from the mountain at intervals of one minute, floating eastward. Steam was continually issuing from the crater's peak in volume varying with the hight of the barometer.

"It is interesting to note, says Professor Plummer, "that several of the planets, including the earth, are at present in line, a fact which bears out the theories of Professor Alexis Perrey and others, that such conditions are favorable to earthqakes and volcanic phenomena.

"There have been so far twenty-two large earthquakes throughout the world during the months of October and November of the present year.

Ellensburg Contributes.
Seattle, Wash., Nov. 22. --
A special to the Post-Intelligencer from Ellensburg says:

The eruption of Mount Rainier has explained to the satisfaction of many a mystery here which had baffled all. The waterworks reservoir here suddenly became exhausted. Investigation showed a crevice running along the hill north and south, and from one inch to one foot in width and of unknown depth. It ran directly through the reservoir, letting the water out. It has been traced several feet along the hill, and is supposed to be due to volcanic action. No shocks of earthquake have been felt here so far as known.

Portland Says It's a Fake.
Portland, Or., Nov.22. --
Advices from Seattle to-day are to the effect that the story of Mount Rainier being in a state of eruption is a huge canard started by a local paper.

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November 30, 1894 ... (November 23)Mount Rainier, WashingtonNew York Times, New York, as taken from the San Francisco Bulletin, November 23, 1894

MOUNT RAINIER OR TACOMA
Little Foundation for the Renewed Stories of Volcanic Activity.

From The San Francisco Bulletin, Nov.23.
The old story about the eruption of Mount Rainier is revamped and given currency about once a year. This time it is set forth with more than usual plausibility. Sundry witnesses have seen smoke and vapor. They have noted a change in the configuration of the mountain, and one witness has even testified that he has seen both smoke and fire on the top of it. There is no doubt that Mount Rainier is a spent volcano. Mount Baker is probably another. Mount Shasta is in the same category. There are half a dozen mountain peaks in California that are known to have once been volcanoes. But no amount of fiction can start one of these cones into flame.

It is a curious circumstance that the inhabitants of Tacoma, who still persist in calling Mount Rainier by the name of that city -- and with very good reason -- have not seen any volcanic activity of their beloved mountain. But the Seattle people, a rival city, or some of them at least, maintain that Mount Rainier is in a state of unusual activity. When these reports are carefully examined they are very unsatisfactory. They do not go to the one point of making out an active volcano, nor even of showing that there is likely to be one on Mount Rainier for the present. It is pretty well established that at times there has been sufficient heat on the crown of Mount Rainier to create a vapor that had the appearance of smoke. More than this has not been established by any authentic testimony during the last twenty years.

The same phenomena have been witnessed many times on Mount Shasta. One mountaineer who made the ascent of this mountain spent the night on the top of it. It was a bitter cold night, and the elements were in the wildest commotion. The mountaineer was in a suffering condition from extreme cold. But at last he found a spot where the ground was warm, evidently from internal heat. He lay down on this warm ground, and made a comfortable night of it. At least, he was saved from freezing. Wherever a spent volcano has still some latent heat it will send up vapor, which will be precipitated at times many miles distant. That is just about all that Mount Rainier or Mount Shasta has done for many years. It is on this slender thread that the story of an eruption is probably hung. If fiction could have been converted into fact, there would have been quite an assortment of volcanoes near the Pacific coast.

SEATTLE, Wash., Dec. 14. --
The volcano on Mound Ranier has broken out again and smoke is pouring from the crater which is also emitting jets of steam. The Post-Intelligencer expedition to explore the mountain will start tomorrow afternoon and will endeavor to reach the summit.

MOUNT RAINIER'S ERUPTION.
STORY OF THE VOLCANO PROVED BY EXPLORERS.
Message From Post-Intelligencer Expedition Confirms the First Report -- Saw Dense Smoke and Steam.

Seattle, Wash., Dec. 25. -- The Post-Intelligencer exploration party has fully confirmed the previous statements that smoke has ascended from the summit of Mount Rainier in the last two months, for the explorers are now encamped on the side of the mountain over half way to the summit and have actually seen great volumes of smoke and geysers of steam pouring from the crater. This news was brought by a homing pigeon to Fred S. Meeker's loft at Puyallup. The following is the meassage:

"St. Elmo's Pass, altitude 8000 feet, 12 m. Christmas day. -- The expedition has demonstrated beyond all doubt that Mount Rainier has been smoking. Yesterday afternoon while crossing the vast snow-field dividing the Elysian field and Winthrop glacier, Major Ingraham suddenly shouted: 'See the smoke; see the steam!" The top of the mountain was fully five miles away, and jets of steam like geysers shot upward 200 feet or more, and further to the right a column of densely black smoke rose from the crater in fitful curls to a height of several hundred feet."

THE RAINIER EXPEDITION,
New Peak is a Cone of Snow Formed by Spiral Winds.
Seattle, Wash., Dec. 26. --
The following message came to Puyallup by a homing pigeon sent by the Post-Intelligencer Mount Rainier party:

"Camp Mountain View, Foot of Carbon Glacier, Wednesday, Dec. 26. --
While crossing the Winthrop glacier yesterday, Major Ingraham made a critical examination of Blaine glacier, by way of which the ascent to the summit was to have been made, and found that the ice and snow was so broken up that an attempt to climb up would have proven diastrous. Consequently, the summit was not attempted."

The expedition has been an entire success. It has demonstrated that wile the mountain has been both smoking and steaming the change is due principally to tremendous avalances and not to an eruption. The new peak observed from Seattle is off Columbia's crest, and was formed by spiral winds carrying the snow and whipping it into the con-shaped peak described. The party will be home Friday.

PORT TOWNSEND, Wash., Oct. 17. --
An active volcano is supposed to be in a state of eruption in the Olympic mountains south of this city. Crossing the straits from Victoria, Prof. Alexander of the Smithsonian Institution observed the phenomena through marine glasses and is positive that the smoke and steam he saw came from volcano. He has just arrived from the Aleutian islands, where there are four or five volcanos in eruption, and he says the smoke in the Olympic mountains is in precisely the same manner as that in the Alaskan volcano.

MOUNT HOOD IN ERUPTION.
Tourists Report a Shower of Stones and Ashes Falling.
Portland, Ore., Sept. 1. --
A party of tourists report that Mount Hood was in eruption for a few minutes last Wednesday. The tourists were descending the mountain when they were suddenly submerged in a shower of rocks and ashes. No one was seriously injured.

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March 16, 1897Mount Baker, Washington
The New York Times, March 16, 1897.

MOUNT BAKER IN ERUPTION. An Old Volcano is Activity Once Again.
TACOMA, Washington, March 15. -- Much excitement has been caused throughout the Puget Sound region by reports from New Whatcom that Mount Baker, one of the loftiest peaks in the Cascade range, is in a state of eruption.

The phenomenon was first observed there Saturday morning by Deputy United States Marshal McGinnis, who was surprised to see smoke curling upward in great quantity, and brought a binnacle to bear on the mountain's crest, and thereby ascertained to a certainty that the old volcano was in a state of mild eruption.

All day Saturday and Sunday the streets at Whatcom were crowded with people, who brought every field glass in the city into requisition. The smoke arose in regular puffs from Mount Baker's crater, and, forming clouds, fleeted off to the south. To-day the mountain is obscured by clouds.

St. Helens in Eruption.
Great volumes of smoke are emitting from its crater. The people resident in the neighborhood are naturally much excited and somewhat alarmed at striking phenomenon exhibited. Special dispatch to the Post-Intelligencer.

Castle Rock, Wash., April 5. -- Great consternation is felt among the people living in proximity to Mount St. Helens on account of its showing plainly and distinctly evidences of an eruption. The stately old mountain has for centuries looked peacefully down on the valleys surrounding it, until this morning it seemed weary of its peaceful lassitude, and began emitting great volumes of smoke, with every evidence of greater eruptions to follow.

The near-by residents who have reported the awakening of the mountain are considerably exercised as to the result, and hope it will have a speedy and peaceful ending.

WASHINGTONIANS SCARED.
Mount St. Helens Said to be in State of Eruption.
Seattle, April 6. --
Telegraphic advices here to-night indicate that there is great consternation among the people living in the towns in the proximity of Mount St. Helens, because the peak is showing plainly and distinctly evidences of an eruption. St. Helens is a sister peak to Rainier and Adams.

A strange rumbling sound heard in Tacoma, Wash., Wednesday evening, was explained Thursday by settlers down from the base of Mount Rainier, who say an avalanche occurred at that time, the Bowitzer glacier being rent in twain. Acres of snow, ice and rocks plunged furiously down the mountain side. No damage was done, as no one lived within the track of the great slide.

April 7, 1900 ... referring to March 27Mount Baker, WashingtonThe Evening Times, Washington, D.C., and The New York Times, New York.

MOUNT BAKER ACTIVE. - The Supposedly Dead Volcano Has an Eruption.
SEATTLE, Wash., April 7. --
Returning trappers and miners from the vicinity of Mount Baker, 110 miles from here, in the Cascade Range, report a tremendous upheaval of earth and rocks ten miles west of the snow-capped peak, March 27. The report bears every evidence of accuracy and reliability.

H.C. Banning and D.P. Simons, the latter a well-known mining man, of this city, visited the scene of the eruption. They declare it a genuine eruption, with evidences the Mount Baker is likely to burst out anew as a volcano. Great fissures were opened in the earth, and in the valley of the Nooksack, a big mountain stream, a huge mound of earth, seventy feet high and a quarter of a mile long, was raised across the valley. The stream was dammed and rose to a considerable height, forming a lake before breaking through. The earth trembled and there was a rumbling noise lasting several minutes. There is great excitment among the ranchers of the district.

UPHEAVAL IN CASCADE RANGE.
Asserted that Mount Baker, 110 Miles from Seattle, Is in Eruption.Special to The New York Times.
SEATTLE, Wash., April 6. --
Returning trappers and miners from the vicinity of Mount Baker, 110 miles from here, in the Cascade range, report a tremendous upheaval of earth and rocks ten miles west of the snow-capped peak, March 27. The report bears every evidence of accuracy and reliability.

H.C. Banning and D.P. Simons, the latter a well-known mining man, of this city, visited the scene of the eruption. They declare it a genuine eruption, with evidences the Mount Baker is likely to burst out anew as a volcano. Great fissures were opened in the earth, and in the valley of the Nooksack, a big mountain stream, a huge mound of earth, seventy feet high and a quarter of a mile long, was raised across the valley. The stream was dammed and rose to a considerable height, forming a lake before breaking through. The earth trembled and there was a rumbling noise lasting several minutes. There is great excitment among the ranchers of the district.

UPHEAVAL OF THE EARTH. Queer Freak of an Earthquake in the State of Washington.
San Francisco, cal., April 7. --
A special from Seattle says: The Nooksack river, one of the navigable streams of this state, has been dammed and the course of the river changed by an earthquake upheaval. The bed of the river now rises ridge-shape to a height of seventy feet. It is no longer a river bed cut by the rush of water.

This eruption and upheaval is centered about Mount Baker, one of the highest and most interesting peaks of the Cascades. It occurred March 27, and was accompanied by a sound not unlike the heavy rumble of thunder. Hamilton, a town ten miles distant, heard the report.

News of the phenomenon came from D.P. Simons, jr., who was in the vicinity of Mount Baker, timber cruising, at the time of the earthquake. He says the upheaval turned the river from its course and from the center of the great mass thrown up by the earth's belching can now be seen a lake. Such trees as escaped destruction stand at a remarkable height in comparison with other timber growth. Gaping cracks and crevasses large enough to engulf a team and wagon were seen. A strong scent of sulphur permeated the air immediately following the upheaval.

A cabin occupied by William Hadley, a trapper, was demolished. It stood in the center of the great new mound. Hadley was not in his home at the time, else he could not have escaped death.

The lake formed in the center of the thrown-up ground is declared to be a quarter of a mile in length and half as wide.

MOUNT LASSEN IS AGAIN IN ERUPTION
RED BLUFF, Cal., May 3. --
Very early this morning crowds of peole were gathered on the streets looking at the north peak of Mount Lassen, which is thought to be in eruption. The volcano has been supposed to be dead, but from reports brought from that section it is believed to have regained its action. Strange rumbling noises, such as caused by a heavy wagon rolling over stone, are heard, and a heavy column of gray smoke proceeds from the mountain.

Mount Lassen a Volcano.
San Francisco, May 3. --
A special from Red Bluff, Cal., says the north peak of Mount Lassen is thought to be in a state of activity. Rumbling noises and a heavy column of gray smoke come fromt he mountain.

Mount Lassen Is Quiet.
San Francisco, May 4. --
There seems to be no substantial basis for the report that Mount Lassen is in a state of activity. What was reported to be smoke issuing from the mountain is now thought to be a cloud of snow produced by wind playing around the summit of the mountain.

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May 6, 1900 ... (May 5)Lassen Peak, CaliforniaThe San Francisco Call

DISCREDITS MT. LASSEN ERUPTION STORY.
Old Resident of the Vicinity Says That Fog Banks Have Been Mistaken for Smoke.
Special Dispatch to The Call.
RED BLUFF, May 5. -- Perhaps the best informed man in this section of the State in regard to the reported eruption of Mount lassen is Bert Hampton, who lives at Battle Creek Meadows, nine miles from the peak. Mr. Hampton takes no stock whatever in the volcano theory. He says:

"I have lived almost at the foot of Mount Lassen for ten years and have never heard any of the rumblings that have been spoken of nor any evidence whatever of volcanic eruption. There are numerous hot springs and geysers surrounding the foot of the mountain and this fact no doubt accounts for many of the exaggerated stories. The so-called smoke is always seen when south wind traveling sixty miles an hour are blowing at a high altitude. Fog or vapor is carried up Mill Creek Canyon, which ends at the south side of Mount Lassen. High winds carry the vapor above the surface of the mountain and it can be plainly seen for a distance of fifty or sixty miles. It frequently happens that a dense fog will hide my barn from the house, and it will travel along the mountain, and when it rises above the horizon it can only be distinguished from smoke by experienced eyes. There is no danger of any voclanic eruption, and these stories are started at intervals by people who do not understand the surroundings."

Find Mount Baker Active.
New Whatcom, Wash., Sept. 1. --
Several members of the faculty of the Whatcom State Normal school headed a party of mountain climbers which have just succeeded in ascending Mount Baker to the summit. They say the mountain is a semi-active volcano, emitting sulphurous vapors, which deeply impregnate the air around the top of the mountain.

SULPHUROUS THE FUMES ISSUING FROM THE CRATER OF MOUNT BAKER.
Party of New Whatcom Explorers Successfully Ascend the Great Ice-Crowned Mountain and Find Evidence That It Is a Semi-Volcano.

Special Dispatch to The Call.

WHATCOM, Wash., Sept. 1. --
Mount Baker is a semi-active volcano and belches forth sulphurous smoke in volume almost sufficient to overcome a person standing near the crater.

This news has just been brought down by a mountain climbing party composed of J.A. Lee, principal of the New Whatcom High School; F.F. Handschy, Deputy Treasurer of Whatcom County; F.W. Eply and Robert Valie, members of the State Normal School faculty of this place, and Charles McPherson, a well-known local druggist. After a perilous climb they reached the crater of the mountain on August 21.

Joe Morovitz, a mountaineer, thoroughly familiar with the vicinity, acted as guide. But three times before has the crater been reached, the last time in 1891. The ascent was made from the east side, the party leaving Baker Lake on the morning of August 20. After a hard trip through a Washington jungle of underbrush and devil-club, up the steep and almost precipitous hillside, they reached the snow line that evening and camped for the night. At 7 o'clock the next morning they started to climb up on the snow and ice, over a field almost litterally honeycombed with crevasses. These were broken in such confusion as to at times make the climbers think they were cut off from progress. One of the climbers lost his footing and would have fallen to the bottom of a crevasse had not his arms caught on the rope held across by companions. At 3:20 o'clock the crater was reached, and it is described by Mr. Lee as follows:

"The crater is an orifice in the snow, about thirty feet in diameter, from which rise sulphurous vapor and smoke. Formerly the basin must have extended for acres between the smaller and larger peaks, but this is now filled with snow and ice and only a small hole remains. At times the odor of sulphur almost overpowers one, and sulphur crustations have formed all over the bordering snow. The vapor was so thick as to cloud the sun and at times the smoke would rise as from a stack for fully 1000 feet before dissolving. Some distance below the crater our guide, Morovitz, in prospecting for a passage over one crevasse, found fumes rising from it and was for a moment nearly overcome. It must have followed through an underground channel from the crater. The entire mountain in the vicinity is of volcanic formation.

"After spending a while at the crater all the party but Handschy and McPherson, who remained to get views, continued the ascent of the main peake or dome, 1060 feet higher. The crater lies almost directly south from it, and the climb is comparatively easy. At the top of the dome there is a tract of 100 acres almost perfectly level. On this day the clouds obscured a view of the lower country, but the surrounding mountains could be seen, their peaks piercing the sea-like strata of clouds. Mount Rainier, more than 100 miles away, stood out in plain view. The temperature was about twenty-five degrees above zero.

"We did not remain long, owing to the lateness of the hour. Our trip back to the timber line, 6000 feet below, was made in an hour and three-quarters. We would sometimes sit down on the snow, which would bank into a kind of sled under us, and slide for a quarter of a mile. We camped that night at the timber line again, where there was no snow. The surroundings were park-like and beautiful. The next day we reached Baker Lake, which is really at the base of the mountain."

Mount Baker lies forty miles east of this city and ten miles south of the British Columbia boundary line. It is nearly 11,000 feet high and is one of the most rugged peaks on the continent, being considered perhaps the hardest to ascend. This was the first ascent made from the east side and is the most successful ever accomplished. It establishes beyond all question the fact that Mount Baker is a semi-active volcano. In 1895, a party of Mazamas from Portland made an unsuccessful attempt to climb the mountain from the north.

Steam Columns Rise from Mt. Rainier.
TACOMA, Washington, June 9. -- Two columns of steam are rising from the apex of Mount Rainier. The melting of the snow by the heat of the sun, the lifting and driving of the snow from the summit by the wind, and several other possible explanations of the phenomenon are offered, but none seems to be satisfactory.

MT. LASSEN GIVES SIGNS OF ERUPTION.
Disturbance Within the Ancient Volcano's Crater.
Water From Springs Around Its Base Becomes Boiling Hot.
Party Leaves Redding to Visit the Cone and Report Upon the Possibility of a Discharge of Lava.

Special Dispatch to The Call.
REDDING, June 14. --
Redding's population is fearful of an eruption of Mount Lassen, the ancient volcanic cone which stands sixty miles to the southeast. To-day it was learned definitely that there is some disturbance within the crater which, for nearly two centuries, has remained inactive. Springs and crevices on the south side of Lassen are emitting volumes of steam, which give the impression to the approaching climber that the mountain is sending up a cloud of smoke. A party of men, who have sheep ranges and a summer home near the base of the mountain, has gone to the scene to make an investigation and see if their portable property needs to be moved out of danger's path.

The summit of Lassen is a peak which on more than one side is so nearly sheer as to be inaccessible. A mile and a half below the summit a plateau, varying in width from 200 yards to a mile, extends clear around the peak. The surface of this is extremely rough and broken. The volcanic rock is shifted into curious piles and the whole plateu abounds in springs and in caverns, many of which have become lakes. The remarkable thing about these springs is that, while some are very cold and mineralized, others, but a few yards distant, are boiling hot.

On the south extreme of the plateau is a region called "Bumpus' Hell." It is full of springs, some of which are so hot that they have constantly emitted steam. Most of these springs, however, have flowed with cold water.

Responsible mountaineers now report that all the springs of "Bumpus' Hell" have suddenly turned boiling hot and that steam issures from them and through cracks in the lava in such volumes as to form a thin cloud. Beyond doubt fuel has been added to the ancient furnace within Mount Lassen.

So far none of the disturbances had made themselves apparent at the summit of the cone, though no one has yet reached the top to peer down into the crater. Geological parties that have examined the crater declare that the uppermost stratum of lava which covers the surrounding country has been deposited there within 200 years. Nervous people have claimed in recent years that they could hear strange rumblings. The report of the stock owners who have gone to the scene will be anxiously awaited. One man, who owns valuable land adjacent to the mountain, offered it for sale at a bargain this week for the first time.

LOW RUMBLINGS IN THE CRATER. Mountaineers Are Fleeing From Vicinity of Mt. Lassen. Evidences of a Coming Eruption Becoming More Pronounced.

Special Dispatch to The Call.
REDDING, June 16. --
Away to the southeast, more than fifty miles form Redding, rugged Mount Lassen is giving yet stronger evidence that the geologists were correct when they declared that if there were a one-time active volcano in California which was not dead, but merely slumbering, Lassen was that one. From a keen interest in the reports within a fortnight that new boiling springs had begun to cloud the mountain sides with steam, the more timid people of Redding have passed to an actual fear at the latest news brought to-day by a courier, to the effect that the steam vents were growing larger and that away down in the crater the fire has set to rumbling. At some spots even where there are no springs the ground is so hot as to make walking upon it painful.

Fred E. Hunter has brought the latest news from Lassen. On his journey to Redding from Fall River Mills he was intercepted at Pawnee by a lumberman hastening from the scene. This lumberman was with a party of timber cruisers who were working upon the mountain. He declared that the springs, many of which were cold formerly, are all throwing out boiling water now in a way to make a close approach unsafe.

But more ominous than the hissing steam are the low rumblings which are heard. They are described as sounding like distant peals of thunder.

"What do the people who are in the immediate vicinity think about it?" Hunter asked.

"They think that old Lassen is about to have its head blown off," replied the lumberman, "and those who don't have to hang around there are doing just what I'm doing -- they are going somewhere else for their health."

Many persons from the northern counties make the rough trip by wagon or pack horse to Mount Lassen during the summer to study the strange conditions and sights which it presents and there has been a belief for years among those who know the peak that the internal fires were not by any means extinct and might cause a fresh eruption at any time.

GRIM MOUNT LASSEN CEASES ITS RUMBLINGS.
Settlers in the Vicinity of the Ancient Volcano Recover From Their Fright.
REDDING, July 3. --
Mount Lassen has ceased its rumblings and the inhabitants of eastern Shasta and southwestern Lassen are recovering from their fright. Roy E. Frickey returned to Redding this morning from the vicinity of the mountain, where he had been hunting. Frickey says the ancient volcano is again in its normal state. The springs on Bumpus' Hell are boiling and sizzling, but other than that there is now no indication of a threatened eruption. The rumblings have ceased entirely.

Frickey says he encounted an army of mosquitoes that were far more troublesome than are the locusts and grasshoppers in Central California. At the head of Battle Creek the mosquitoes appeared in clouds and farmers and sheep men were greatly bothered. Around Mount Lassen, however, there were none of the pests, the sulphurous gas being too strong.

HEAT FROM RAINIER'S CRATER. --
Melting of Snow and Ice Changes Appearance of Mountain.
TACOMA, Aug. 4. -- Professor Gilstrap, curator of the Ferry Museum here, says that greater internal heat has increased the expulsion of steam from the north crater of Mount Rainier, fifty miles southeast of Tacoma, and has caused the melting snow and ice around the crater that had supposedly existed there for centuries. Professor Gilstrap has been studying the mountain with powerful telescopes and notes marked changes in its appearance. There has been no eruption and none is expected.

All visitors to the top of the mountain have observed steam arising from one or more of its three craters, and climbers usually go part way down into at least one of the craters to get warm. It is supposed that, in consonance with subterranean activity elsewhere, the amount of steam coming up through these craters has increased.

Gilstrap finds that the volcanic debris is now bare for the first time within the historic period of Horizon peak, a distance of at least 1000 feet from the north crater, and extending downward from 100 to 400 feet.

AVALANCHES ALTERING RAINIER'S APPEARANCE. Crevasses Prevent Climbers Reaching the Top of the Famous Mountain.
TACOMA, Aug. 15. --
Tremendous avalances and great crevasses have so changed the appearance of the summit of Mount Rainier that that mountain has not been ascended in two years. Only hardy climbers who are willing to take their lives in their hands will venture up the steep slopes to an altitude exceeding three miles. Henry Carter, the guide, reached here to-day. He says that one party made an unsuccessful attempt to climb the mountain last year. After passing around the face of Gibralter Rock, at an elevation of 10,000 feet, they were stopped by an immense crevasse, which angles across the glaciers from Gibraltar Rock toward the chasm at the head of the Nisqually Glacier. Their experience was so severe that none have attempted to reach the top this year.

Carter is uncertain whether the mountain is in a mild state of steam eruption, as has been supposed. He says that hurricane winds and avalanches are largely responsible for laying bare great areas on the north and west sides of the triple peaks. The sides of this mountain are covered by thirteen distinct glaciers, making it extremely interesting to mountain climbers.

CLIMBERS FIND MANY ALTERATIONS ON RAINIER.
Earthquake Shocks Change the Entire Appearance of the Triple Peaks.
TACOMA, Aug.20. --
A party of mountaineers under the leadership of Joseph Phenecle returned from Mount Rainier today and report that the entire top of the mountain shows indications of some recent unusual subterranean disturbance. The lower portions of the glaciers are littered with debris of stones and ice that have been dislodged from the upper glacial areas. The route to the top by way of Gibraltar Rock has been destroyed. Immense masses of ice hurled down from Crater peak have lodged in such quantities at the top of Gibraltar that there is no possibility of following the precarious route up the steep glacier leading along the left side of the rock.

The triple peaks show indications of great disintegrating forces at work. Crater peak, which is the central one of the three, appears as though it had been flattened on top by a widening of the crater. The southern rim of the crater, which has been barely visible from Paradise Valley heretofore, can now be seen standing in fine relief from different points in the valley. Phenecle declares the district surrounding Rainier has been visited by heavy earthquakes, as there are no indications of volcanic disturbances which would have produced the changes on the top of the mountain.

September 20, 1903 ... (September 19)Mount St. Helens, WashingtonThe San Francisco Call, California, p.44.(similar article also appeared in the Washington Times, September 21, 1903, p.9.

OLD VOLCANO EXCITES ALARM.
St. Helens Thought ot Have Been Cause of Temblor.
Special Dispatch to The Call.
TACOMA, Wash., Sept. 19. --
Some fear exists in Southern Washington that Mount St. Helens, supposedly an extinct volcano, will some day break into eruption. Miners working at the base of the mountain declare their belief that last week's earthquake through the Cascade Mountains was caused by volcanic disturbances below the crater of Mount St. Helens. There are spots near the top of the mountain where the rocks are too hot to allow the hand to touch them without causing a bad burn.

A hissing noise can be plainly heard all about the crater and steam issues in volumes from small fissures. On Friday when the earthquake shock was felt several mountain climbers were near the summit of St. Helens. So severe was the shock that they were thrown to their knees. Rocks were hurled in different directions and trees swayed to and fro as in a hurricane.

For years past steam has been noticed in the crater of Mount Rainier, a hundred miles north of St. Helens. Sulphuric fumes are also emitted through the crater from the interior of the mountain.

October 3, 1903 ... referring to eruption of September 15Mount St. Helens, WashingtonThe San Francisco Call, California

Mount St. Helens in Eruption. --
PORTLAND, Or., Oct.2 -- John Connors, superintendent of the Gold Crown quartz mine, who reached this city today, declares that Mount St. Helens was in eruption on September 15, the date on which an earthquake was felt over the Pacific Northwest country.

PRESIDENT ESTABLISHES NATIONAL MONUMENTS.
President Roosevelt has established two national monuments in California. One is Lassen peak and the other Cinder cone, within the boundaries of the Lassen peak national forest. An act by congress, approved in June, 1906, provided for the declaration by the president of the United States of historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures and other objects of historic and scientific interest that are situated on lands owned or controlled by the United States, as national monuments.

In his proclamation concerning Lassen peak, President Roosevelt describes it as "the southern terminus of the long line of extinct volcanoes in the Cascade range from which one of the greatest volcanic fields in the world extends and of special importance in tracing the volcanic phenomena of that vicinity."

The establishment of national monuments at Cinder cone and Lassen peak is not intended to prevent the use of the lands for forest purposes under the proclamation establishing the Lassen peak national forest. In all respects in which the reservations are inconsistent the mountain peaks are made the dominant reservations.

FIND CRATER IN MOUNT BAKER. White Men Discover Activity Long Known to the Indians.
TACOMA, Wash., Feb. 9 -
Prospectors have discovered on the southern slope of Mount Baker, in Cascade Range, a crater hitherto unknown to white men, from which constantly arise clouds of vapor and sulphur fumes.

Old Indians of Whatcom county say that this crater has been active since the days of their forefathers several generations removed. About the crater are several large heated areas and extensive deposits of sulphur.

A Tacoma mountain climbing club will ascend Mount Baker in July and investigate the new crater and its sulphur deposits. Mount Baker can be ascended from its southern slope in one day. It is known to the Indians as the Great White Watcher, and it is the most northern volcano in the State. It has an elevation of 11,250 feet above sea level. Its sides are covered with glaciers and snow fields.

CRATER FOUND ON MT. BAKER. Prospectors Say It Is Constantly Active -- Sulphur Deposits Near It.Special to The New York Times.

TACOMA, Wash., Feb. 9 -
Prospectors have discovered on the southern slope of Mount Baker, in Cascade Range, a crater hitherto unknown to white men, from which constantly arise clouds of vapor and sulphur fumes.
Old Indians of Whatcom county say that this crater has been active since the days of their forefathers several generations removed. About the crater are several large heated areas and extensive deposits of sulphur.

No alarm is felt over the discovery, as steam and sulphur fumes are likewise constantly arising from Mount Rancor's crater, further south. At least one mountain-climbing club will ascend Mount Baker in July and thoroughly investigate the new crater.

Some photographs recently sent to this city seem to show smoke rising from Mount Baker, near the northern edge of Washington, and it has been inferred that the fires of this ancient volcano are not yet extinct. Such reports about a number of our great snow mountains in the Cascade range are heard now and then, but they are to be received with caution. A fire on a mountain has sometimes been mistaken for a volcanic eruption.

Mr. SYLVESTER of the Geological Survey says, however, that Mount Hood must be taken from the list of extinct volcanoes and placed at least among the doubtful. He made this discovery while surveying for the special topographic sheet of the Mount Hood district last year. He found steam escaping from numerous fissures in the rock on the south side of the mountain, and these emissions had melted the glaciers that covered their vents so that considerable areas of bare rock were revealed, deeply walled in by the glacial ice around them, a peculiar phenomenon not often seen. On August 28 twelve or more persons, including two members of Mr. SYLVESTER'S party, saw a column of "smoke," probably dense steam, rising above the summit of the mountain. We have had no reports of further activity this year.

The behavior of Mount Hood seems to be exactly like that of Mount Cameroon, the highest peak of West Africa, as recently reported by Dr. HASSERT. Perhaps neither volcano has been really active for many generations, but throes of life are manifest from time to time long after the loss of power to be destructively active has passed.

BELLINGHAM, Wash., Jan. 12. -- It is reported that immediately after yesterday's earthquake shock smoke was seen arising from Mount Baker, an extinct or dormant volcano. At Blaine several buildings were slightly damaged.

Reports fromt he San Juan islands, in Puget Sound, say that yesterday's shock was severe there. At Point Stanley, Lopez, East Sound, Olga, and other places buildings were damaged to a considerable extent. No casualties are reported.

OLD MOUNT LASSEN EMITS LOUD ROARS. Residents Alarmed by Evidences of Renewed Activity in "Extinct" Volcano.
[Special Dispatch to The Call]
MARYSVILLE, Aug. 18. --
Noises like the distant discharge of cannon and rumblings of a distant thunder are being heard in the Mt. Lassen region, and these noises are just now causing considerable anxiety among the residents along the sides and base of the mountain.

The mountain is an extinct volcano, but of late years there have been ample evidences of a renewal of life in the region.

Hot springs have been discovered, and in one or two instances hot mud has been found oozing from crevices in the sides of the mountain.

This year the rumblings hav been the only indications of activity in these bowels of the old volcano, but these have been sufficient to cause alarm, and some of the residents of the region are getting ready to scatter at the first outward sign of trouble.

Vancouver, British Columbia, Oct. 2 -- Four citizens of Mission Junction, directly north of Mount Baker, on the Canadian side, announced to-day that on Tuesday last they plainly saw Mount Baker in eruption.

They declared they saw a column of smoke issuing from the mountain last Sunday, and on Tuesday obtained powerful field glasses and again saw a huge column of smoke and vapor. After nightfall Tuesday, they declared, a lurid flame issuing from the peak could plainly be seen. Since Tuesday the summit of Mount Baker has been hidden by clouds.

June 2, 1914 ... (June 1, 1914)Lassen Peak, CaliforniaThe New York Times, New York

MT. LASSEN ACTIVE, HURLS ROCKS A MILE.
Old California Volcano Causes Fear of Great Forest Conflagration.
STEAM PALL MASKS SIGHT
Great Outpouring of Mud and Sand from Many Fissures, but No Lava Seen.

Special to The New York Times.
REDDING, Cal., June 1. --
Mount Lassen, in Shasta County, is in eruption. The ancient volcano became active on Sunday and opened up a new crater on the north side of the peak from which a great column of steam is still rising and hiding the mountain from view. The cloud covering the mountain is visible all over the upper end of the Sacramento Valley.

The new crater was formed by an explosion which showered the whole mountain with rock and ashes, hurling rocks at least a mile from the crater and scattering lighter material over a much larger radius. Forest Ranger Harvey Abbey ascended the mountain on Sunday and found near the summit a smoking crater thirty feet wide by fifty feet long, with many fissures in the mountain side.

For two or three hundred yards around the crater the ground was covered with rock debris from one to two feet deep, some of the rock pieces thrown out were boulders thirty inches in diameter and the ranger found ashes on the ground as far as three miles away. With the boulders was an outpouring of mud and sand as well as a cloud of ashes. No lava was to be seen. The crater is on the north side of the main peak, about a quarter of a mile from the fire lookout house, which the Forest Service maintains on the mountains in the Summer, and which stands on the edge of the ruined walls of the old crater. As an active volcanic vent the old crater has been dormant so long that its walls have been worn away in most places and only the general outline of the original basin can be traced.

No damage has been done by the eruption so far, according to the Forest Service. There are no inhabitants within many miles of that side of the mountain, and the north slope is of such rugged lava that the forest on that side does not begin for nearly two miles from the summit of the mountain.

The sound of the explosion in which the opening was formed was not heard in Redding nor in any of the towns to the west of the mountain, none of which are less than fifty miles away. Today a greater cloud than ever is hanging over the mountain. While Shasta stands out clearly, although twice as far away, Lassen is entirely obscured. Owing to the great height of the peak the steam from the crater is quickly condensed into fog by the chill of the upper atmosphere. Lassen Mountain, or Butte, is in the southeastern corner of Shasta County. It is a symmetrical cone, 10,480 feet above the sea, and usually bearing more or less snow throughout the Summer. The last eruption of the butte was about sixty years ago.

-- Newspaper Source found at:
The New York Times Archives, 2008

June 16, 1914Lassen Peak, CaliforniaThe New York Times, New York

MOUNT LASSEN'S ERUPTION.
The newest active volcano, as it is the only one in the continental possessions of the United States that rumbles, Mount Lassen will occasion little alarm. Mount Hood in Oregon and Mount Rainier in Washington exhale vapor; there are some very quiescent old volcanoes in the Rockies, and the geysers and hot springs in the Yellowstone Valley show some remains of activity.

Just a year ago a great many volcanoes along the Alaskan peninsula and islands were in violent eruption, and just a year before that Mount Katmai burst, supplying in southern Alaska one of the severest eruptions of history. Mount Lassen in California is the southernmost of the Pacific chain of volcanic mountains that are occasionally active. It is 200 miles from the ocean, too far to admit of leakage that might make it dangerous.

-- Newspaper Source found at:
The New York Times Archives, 2008

June 18, 1914Lassen Peak, CaliforniaWashington County News, Utah

California has a real volcano. It is at the foot of the Cascade range of mountains in the northern part of the state and in a recent eruption severely injured one man who may die in consequence.

-- Newspaper Source found at:
Utah Digital Newspapers Archives, 2007

May 28, 1915Lassen Peak, CaliforniaGrand Valley Times, Utah

Eruption Changes Creek's Course.
Redding, Cal. -- Another eruption of Lassen peak began at 11 o'clock Monday. All fences in the Lassen national forest are reported to have been destroyed. Logs swept down the side of Lassen peak have been piled in a dam ten feet high, which has caused Manzanita creek to change its course.

LASSEN VOLCANO REGARDED SAFE.
Washington, August, 10. -- Lassen volcano, California, spent most of its energy in its violent eruptions of last May, according to reports received by the Forest Service, and it is believed that there is little likelihood of further destructive outbreaks. Since the upheavals of May 20 and 22, the volcano has been under the observation of officers of the Lassen National Forest in which the peak stands, and for the last month a volcanologist of the U.S. Geological Survey has been making a scientific study of the mountain.

... (see clipping for rest of article)

-- Newspaper Source found at:
Utah Digital Newspapers Archives, 2007

August 27, 1920Crater Lake, OregonSpokane Chronicle

ONCE VOLCANO; IS GREAT LAKE.

Crater Lake, 2000 Feet Deep, Has No Known Inlet.
Crater Lake National park, Oregon, is the heart of the Cascade mountain range. In this neighborhood the Cascades merge into a broad, irregular platform surmounted by volcanic cones, which vary in size and are distributed without regularilty, says Detroit News.

The fragments, blown up by violent eruption, have fallen upon the volcanic orifice from which they issued and built up cinder cones.

Crater lake itself is a body of water of wonderful blue in the blown-in top of an extinct volcano. The lake is 2000 feet deep in places, having no inlet of any sort, nor is there any stream running out of it. But the water is supposed to escape by underground channels, and to reappear as springs in the Klamath region, a few miles away. Geologists find Crater lake of special interest because of the way nature made it.

Mazama Fell in Upon Itself.
Long before man came to this region, the entire upper part of Mount Mazama fell in upon itself in some titanic cataclysm, as if swallowed up by a subterranean cavern, leaving its craterlike lava sides cut sharply downward into the central abyss. The volcano was not quenched, bursting up through the collapsed lavas in three places. The fires ceased and gradually, as the years passed, springs percolated into the vast basin and precipitation flled it with water within 1000 feet of its rim, forming Crater lake.